


I'll Worship Like A Dog at the Shrine of Your Lies

by iktwabrokenbone (apiculteur)



Series: Our Gentle Sin [1]
Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Drug Dealing, Guns, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, M/M, Murderers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 03:44:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3159965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apiculteur/pseuds/iktwabrokenbone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler Joseph is a wanted criminal, for drug dealing and several counts of murder. Josh Dun is the agent assigned to his case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Worship Like A Dog at the Shrine of Your Lies

**Author's Note:**

> heyyy so i wanted to write fluff and then this happened whoops. check the tags for warnings. i wrote this in two days and then didnt check over it, which was a terrible idea, but w/e here u go. pls point out any of my (many, many) inevitable mistakes.
> 
> title from take me to church by hozier

A black file was slapped down onto Josh's desk by his boss, a relatively short, but heavily muscled and tattooed, man standing behind the desk and staring down at Josh. Josh looked up from the old file he had been reading, out of boredom rather than necessity.

"New case," Hurley said, folding his arms across his chest. His expression didn't usually reveal much, but his mouth was set in a firmer, slimmer line than usual, and Josh was pretty sure his eyes were narrowed slightly behind those sunglasses of his. "This one's a big one."

"Yeah?" he asked, pulling the file towards him with fresh interest. He loved his job, because it was rarely monotonous, but lately he had been given a few easier, less challenging cases. However, if _Hurley_ was telling him this was 'a big one', then it must have been.

Josh's eyes scanned across the file as Hurley spoke. "Huge drug empire, some Breaking Bad-style shit, and several counts of murder. That's only what we _know_ he did, it's likely there's more."

In the file, there was only around ten pages giving details about this criminal: the crimes they knew about, three of accomplices, very basic details about the man himself, and four pictures attached with a paperclip, all relatively low quality, two in black and white.

"Why do we have so little on this Tyler Joseph guy?" he asked, trying to commit all the facts they had on him to memory. It shouldn't take him that long, since he usually had to memorise at least twice as much. The hard part would be infiltrating his circle of trusted friends, especially with so little info on him.

"He's doing a good job of covering his tracks. Very few people actually meet him, and he kills anyone who he thinks might spill anything," Hurley said. "Lucky for us, one of his people decided to tell us about him. She got in too deep, wants out, and she could get you close to Joseph."

Josh frowned, wanting to question how they knew this girl was a reliable source, but reminded himself that this was Hurley. If Hurley was wrong about the guy, this would be a first. "What's this girl's name?"

"Debby Ryan," he said. "You'll meet her in a couple hours, and tomorrow she'll introduce you to Joseph, saying you need a job."

Josh nodded, and Hurley gave him another file, this one about Debby and their plan to kill Joseph. Two hours, Hurley had said. That was long enough to read through the files a few times.

After getting another coffee- black, no sugar- he sat down. Two hours. He sighed.

***

Due to the short notice, Josh hardly had time to rush back to his apartment, slipping into casual clothes. The files said he was going to meet up with Debby in the hotel she was staying in, talk to her there.

When he finally got to meet her, he was surprised that she smiled at him, looking genuine. Despite this, he returned it politely, not letting it stretch out like it would if he was at home, or talking to his mom.

"Hello. Josh, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, and you're Debby?" He already knew this, and he imagined she knew his name too, but it was polite, and less awkward than introducing themselves despite already knowing.

"Sure." There was a miniscule pause before she raised an eyebrow. "Should we get right down to it?"

"Yeah," he nodded, swiftly slipping into his serious, business persona. "Tell me about Tyler, anything I'll need to know for tomorrow that wasn't in the file."

Debby nodded. "If he knows you're a spy, he'll kill you. Maybe he'll try get information from you first, but you'll end up dead if he finds out. He trusts me, Jenna, and Mark though. We're the only three people he trusts."

She continued to explain, more about his personality, as everything she knew about the drug empire he ran was already written in the files. As she spoke, Josh tried to form a mental profile of him, to give himself an idea of what their first encounter might go like, how to act.

He didn't sound violent, but logical. Willing to do whatever he had to in order to protect himself, fiercely loyal to those he trusted, and equally as ready to kill anyone who betrayed him or got in his way.

If Josh hadn't created his alter-ego, his mask, then he would be worried, sweating and calling up Hurley to beg to quit his job. But he had crafted Josh Dun, the agent who wasn't afraid of anything, as perfectly as he could, made him completely separate to Josh, the happy punk rock kid who sometimes cried when he saw a snake. This was fine, just another case, another dangerous person who he would meet, pretend to befriend, then kill. It didn't make a difference that he was slightly more dangerous than the last.

Debby finished telling him about Joseph, and he nodded, thanked her and left. Just planning for another case. There was no reason to be afraid.

***

It was a plane ride and two hours in Debby's car to meet Joseph. Debby tried to make conversation on the way there, but he only gave her short responses. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her- if he ignored the fact that she had become involved in this _thing_ that Joseph was running, she seemed lovely- but rather that becoming friends with her would twist up the two Joshes, make him unable to do his job properly.

After a few attempts, she caught on and stopped trying, seeming to understand. The resulting silence would probably be awkward if he wasn't in his Josh Dun, the agent who wasn't afraid of anything, mode.

The next time she spoke, it was when they were half an hour away from where Joseph was, to go through the plan again. It was already cemented in his mind, but he recited it anyway. He didn't have a single weapon on his person- Joseph would _know_ , being a prolific murderer- and he was not afraid. This was just his job.

The car stopped outside an office building, not any different from all the rest. Tall, grey, full of dark windows you couldn't see anything through.

"This is it," Debby told him, hands tight on the wheel as she glanced over to him. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

***

Inside the building, it all looked very normal. There was a receptionist at the desk, who looked suspicious of Josh, but smiled nonetheless. "Hello, Miss Kirk."

Debby returned the gesture, and made pleasant conversation as she typed something onto a touchscreen next to the reception desk. Josh didn't question the receptionist referring to Debby as 'Miss Kirk'. It made sense that not even people who worked in the building would know the names of the high-ups.

After another few seconds, Debby made her way towards the elevator, and Josh followed, watched her press her thumb against a scanner before pressing the button for the top floor.

From what he had seen of the building so far, and what he knew about Joseph from both Debby and the file, the office would be professional, no trace of the drug cartel he was running. He would probably wear a suit, as both Josh and Debby were, to fit in with the ruse that this was all just a normal office building, selling paper or insurance or something equally mundane.

However, the thing which Josh had still found himself unable to predict was how Joseph would act. Part of him suspected he would be business-like, conduct an interview as though Josh was apply for any old job, but then again Debby had described him as being quite relaxed, so he may be casual about it all. Whichever way Joseph went about deciding whether or not to hire him, he knew Joseph would be scrutinising him constantly, searching for any sign that Josh was not the man he claimed to be.

This was the riskiest part of the entire mission, these inchoate stages of their relationship. These were the moments when Joseph would be most likely to pull a gun on him, and there was nothing Josh would be able to do about that. Even if he had a weapon with him, it would be useless with Joseph already pointing his own at him.

And there was the matter of Debby- as much as he knew Josh, the happy punk rock kid who sometimes cried when he saw a snake, wanted to trust her, Josh Dun, the agent who wasn't afraid of anything, didn't have the luxury of blind trust. Josh, Hurley, and Debby all knew the risk when he had agreed to this mission, all knew that Debby may well be lying about all of this.

A quiet 'ping' sounded as the elevator doors opened, revealing a dull corridor with a few doors to choose from, and expensive-looking chairs. They stepped out, and walked towards the furthest door. Debby raised an eyebrow at him and mouthed, " _Ready?_ "

A firm nod, and Debby was knocking on the door.

"Come in!" a man called back from the other side of the door, and they complied, Debby entering before Josh.

"Oh, hey, Deb," Joseph smiled. As expected, he was wearing a suit, but the black jacket and tie were both hanging over the back of his chair, and the top button of his crisp, pressed white shirt was undone. "This your old friend from school?"

"Yeah," she replied, and encouraged Josh to step closer to Joseph.

He did so, meeting Joseph's eyes as he smiled. Privately, he thought to himself that _this man did not look like a killer_. Usually, he was introduced to sleazy men in their thirties or forties, who raked their gaze up and down his body, hands wandering if he got close to them, or women with red lips, sharp nails they dug into Josh's skin, often until blood was drawn, and always with weapons hidden everywhere, bugs placed wherever possible.

Joseph was not like that. He was relaxed, completely normal on the surface. As someone who had been trained to spot everything at even the tiniest glance, he was able to see something deeper below his dark eyes, intelligence, but also preparedness. The weapons in this room were placed more discretely than usual, but still there. This man was still a murderer and a drug dealer, and, to Josh at least, it was obvious he was sizing Josh up, casually deciding whether or not he was allowed to live.

"What's your name?" Joseph asked.

Without hesitation, Josh replied, "Josh Haynes." It was a simple name- not normal enough to be suspicious, not different enough to stand out, and using his first name for ease.

"Tyler Joseph, but you'll hear me being called a lot of different things, if I hire you."

Josh nodded. He knew this, of course. "That's fine, Sir."

Joseph laughed. "Don't be afraid of me. Call me Tyler."

Josh gave him a warm smile, letting the corners of his eyes crinkle. It wasn't something he usually felt doing when he was playing the role of Josh Dun, the agent who wasn't afraid of anything, but it seemed appropriate if he was to befriend Jo- _Tyler_. "Sure," he said, even though he would feel far more comfortable keeping this as professional as possible.

There were a few more questions which _Tyler_ \- he forced himself to use that name, to play nice with the criminal- asked him, only halfheartedly pretending he wasn't using them to figure out if he was a spy. At no point did Josh slip up or hesitate when answering, he had been over the file too many times, was far too well-trained to make such mistakes. If he was going to screw it up as easy as that, he would not be talking to Tyler Joseph in the first place.

Eventually, Tyler stood up and made his way towards Josh. "Well, if Debby trusts you, so do I," he eventually concluded, giving him a dimpled grin. "Wanna head over to my place for some Mario Kart?"

Josh let out an incredibly un-agent-like spluttering laugh, which made Debby give him a nonplussed look while Tyler just smiled.

"What, drug dealers can't play Mario Kart?" he asked, and Josh stopped himself from pointing out that he was, more importantly, a murderer, a disgusting beast who took the lives of people who probably just accidentally got in too deep.

Instead he attempted a chuckle, probably coming out almost as uncomfortable as he felt. "Good point," he said, and looked to Debby.

"Well, I'll come," she said, and Tyler smiled.

"Cool. And you, Josh?"

"Sounds sick," he lied, smiling.

"Great! Let's go," Tyler said, bouncing on his toes slightly as he collected the clothing he had discarded prior to Josh's arrival.

***

Josh had never been into a murderer's flat. Or maybe he had, but not knowingly. There had always been a boundary he had drawn during these missions, how far he could go before it became _too_ casual. For everyone else, that boundary was drawn way, way, _way_ before the doorstep to their apartment, never mind the couch, which he was currently lounging on as Debby and Tyler played against each other.

He did not want to be here, but this was Tyler Joseph, and he was important. He needed to be dead, and that was what Josh was doing this for. If he had to play a few games of Mario Kart, or try not to shiver after he laughed at one of the monster's surprisingly funny jokes, then it was only so he could kill him later. He thought of his suitcase, with the gun, the knife, the poison. That was why he was there.

Debby handed him the controller, and then he was playing Mario Kart with Tyler, and it felt strange and terrible and wrong to have him shouting beside him when he threw a blue shell, and getting pouty when Josh won. _This man is a murderer_ , he thought to himself, eyes tracking Tyler's movements when he walked through to the kitchen, getting himself and Debby a drink. Josh had declined, fearful of poison.

The whole situation was disturbing, not because it was filled with blood and gore- there was none of that, not here or now- but because it was painfully _normal_. Anyone could do this. Anyone could be Tyler, svelte body, a few tattoos, unusually shaped thumbs. They all made him more human, his individuality, and Josh wanted to throw up.

He excused himself to the bathroom, and didn't heave or gag or cry. He just stared in the mirror and felt ill, thinking that he could so easily be Tyler.

Tyler was human, nothing more, and Josh was disgusted by him.

***

It had been a week, and Tyler already trusted him a surprising amount. Not yet enough for Josh to be allowed to get him drinks or food, and if Josh were to try sneak in a knife to slit his throat, he would be caught and killed himself. He had considered putting the annoying ties he had to almost constantly wear to use, but strangling would take too long, and Tyler would likely manage to shoot or stab him before he died.

Every day, after he had finished doing whatever menial tasks Tyler assigned him, he returned to the tiny apartment he now called home. The walls were relatively bare, no photos of family or friends hung up, only a couple of posters- a blink-182 poster, a few X-Files action figures, and other things he actually enjoyed, and would be able to talk about if Tyler was ever in his apartment.

Quite often, Josh found himself alone with Tyler, which, whilst uncomfortable and not something he enjoyed, did result in them chatting idly, and learning they had common interests. Personally, Josh was disturbed by the knowledge that Tyler had written music and been in bands during his earlier years, but it did make Tyler trust him more, which made up for it, almost.

He was working towards killing this man. He would be dead, Josh would be safe, and no one else would die at his hands.

***

It was halfway through the second week, when Tyler started to trust him enough to answer phones and set up meetings, that Josh realised Tyler was worse than he thought he was. Until then, he had been fully convinced that the only illegal business Tyler was running was the drug cartel, but he was wrong.

From what he understood, he was a- a _pimp_. Josh had just arranged the transport of a group of thirty practically underage boys and girls, people who would be _prostituted_  soon. The person on the other end of the phone had told him the oldest was younger than twenty, and when prodded about the age of the youngest, whether they were of legal age, the man laughed.

"Sure," he said, and Josh didn't believe him.

He laughed along, feeling sick. Tyler was a worse man than he had imagined, and the weirdly cute smiles he offered Josh when they went for lunch together made no difference. He was terrible.

***

They were moving, moving somewhere. Josh didn't know where, and, as far as he could tell, neither did Debby, Jenna, or Mark. He had met Tyler's other two closest friends a few times before, had played games with them when he had felt unable to turn down Tyler's offers to hang out at his place, and sometimes seen them around the office.

From what he had been able to catch of Tyler's phone conversations, they were temporarily relocating. Something about not wanting to be in the same place too long, having to stay away from the office for a while. He didn't question. Tyler was dangerous, and pressing for information would only make him suspicious.

It was an entire day of driving, with only stops for meals and a couple of bathroom breaks, before they arrived at their destination. It was still in America, and that was about all Josh knew. Probably all that Tyler wanted them to know.

They walked for a while, until they reached a cabin. It was a decent size, larger than the average cabin, Josh imagined, but to share between five people for who-knows-how-long, it could start to feel cramped.

None of them mentioned this, but instead carried their minimal suitcases into the cabin. They each chose a room, and then there wasn't much to do. Josh used his privacy to quietly call Hurley, update him on the situation as he did whenever anything important happened. His boss sounded concerned for him, and Josh didn't blame him. He wanted the mission to be over now, but he knew it wouldn't be for at least another couple weeks.

It would be a long two weeks.

***

Somehow, Josh ended up in the sitting room, alone with Tyler. All the rest had left to go do some midnight shopping at the nearby village; Josh didn't doubt Tyler had had some say in that, but didn't mention it. Not mentioning it seemed to always be the best thing to do, lately.

They were awfully close, and Josh would prefer to be in his bedroom, to get some rest after a day of driving and boredom. He was tired, and maybe slightly too loose-lipped, so when Tyler asked him, "What was your childhood like?" Josh didn't bother to lie.

"Kinda lame," he said.

"Why?"

"That just tends to be what happens when you come out," he mumbled. "I don't know, when people realised I was gay, suddenly it was okay to grope me and claim I had to enjoy it, because I must be attracted to _everyone_ if I'm bi, right?" He scoffed mirthlessly, and there was a warm hand cautiously taking his.

"People are dicks," Tyler whispered, and Josh nodded. High school had really done a good job at teaching him that, and since then he had set his expectations as low as possible. Hope only ended up turning into an overwhelming sense of disappointment.

"Yeah," he said, and Tyler squeezed his hand. Really, if he wasn't so tired, he would probably be objecting to all of this, but he _was_ tired, and it was happening anyway. "What about you?"

"Similar thing. Sort of alright but also not," he replied.

"Are you bi?" Josh asked him, even though he was almost completely sure Tyler was straight.

"I'm gay," he admitted.

Josh nodded slowly. He didn't care if someone was gay, but it felt strange. This was _Tyler_ , the very, very Bad Man, who Josh did _not_ like in any way, but he still comforted Josh about his lame high school experience? And then _came out_ to him? His world was being horribly skewed.

He didn't fake the yawn which followed, but it did make for a handy excuse. Tyler giggled, pretty and cute and human and _terrible_. "You should sleep," Tyler told him, and Josh nodded.

"Yeah, probably," he said. "Night."

Tyler returned it, and Josh hurried away, brushing his curly mess of fringe away from his eyes. What was he doing? What was _happening_?

Tyler was a drug dealer, a murderer, and a pimp. He would not forget.

***

The next week followed with more similar moments, Tyler and Josh alone, either in cars or the cabin. As far as he could tell, Tyler had no idea about who Josh really was, still offered him broad grins and adorable giggles and occasionally called him Haynes.

When he thought about it, Josh hated himself, because every day it was getting easier to return the smiles, laugh along with him, decide to buy him Taco Bell because _he'd been looking so stressed earlier_. Now, he responded as quickly to Haynes as he would to Dun, threw popcorn into Jenna's mouth when they watched movies together, played games with Mark. They were friends, actual _real_ friends, and he felt closer to them than anyone he knew back home.

Honestly, he had no one back home. It had been a rule for him: no friends, because his job was too dangerous, and people couldn't be trusted. Even keeping in contact with his family was something he had been apprehensive about doing, and the only reason he hadn't stopped was because he was so close to them. Hurley had really been the only person Josh would call a friend, and they didn't even refer to each other by their first names. And now, he was friends with criminals. People who killed, made money from prostitutes, sold drugs. People who were probably telling more lies than Josh was, without any of the good intentions.

Josh didn't know how to react to the sudden realisation. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and he would still have to kill Tyler, and maybe Jenna and Mark too, in only a couple weeks time. If they knew who he was, he would be dead in a second.

He told them that he was going to sleep, quietly reported to Hurley on the phone, and then slept. Sleep would fix nothing, but it would help him to stop thinking for a few hours.

***

Tyler had dragged him to the village to go get some food. Mark had offered to join them at first, but then glanced at his watch.

"Oh, actually, that programme I like is on soon. Yeah, I can't come," he said. There was no programme that Mark liked, Josh knew. In fact, he was constantly complaining about the lack of channels and good TV, which was why Tyler and Josh had gone out earlier in the week to buy as many DVDs as possible.

Regardless, Josh nodded. "Sure, we'll be back soon."

The car journey was filled with the type of conversation that Josh usually hated to have. It was about nothing in particular, not any information he needed about Tyler's business, not even the polite small talk about weather or jobs. It was personal, about their past and their interests and everything Josh should be lying about but found himself telling the truth anyway.

They had both grown up in Ohio, not too far away from each other. They both loved their moms, continued to play music, and ate too much Taco Bell. They had the same sense of humour, Tyler thought his piercings were cute, and Josh was in too deep, far too deep.

The car had stopped now, and they were waiting in front of Taco Bell, doing and saying nothing, until Tyler leaned forwards and timidly pressed his lips to Josh's.

"I- I'm sorry, that was unprofessional," Tyler mumbled, cheeks pink and gaze dropped.

 _Yes_ , Josh should have said. _It was unprofessional of both of us, and we should forget this ever happened, never do it again and try to distance ourselves, for both of our sakes_.

"No, I liked it," he said instead. He wasn't lying, but he wished he was. If Hurley found out, he would sigh and tell him he had to stop, take him off the case and fire him probably. This was not something he should be doing.

"Would you mind if I did it again?" His cheeks were still pinked, and he looked so much less confident and unbreakable than he acted in front of his workers and business associates.

"That would be cool."

There lips touched again, less brief, firmer and quickly becoming more enthusiastic, deeper. Josh leaned closer to Tyler when he pulled away, instantly missing the contact.

"We should probably get food," Tyler said, their faces still closer than usual.

"Yeah." He sighed and got out the car, unsure whether they would ever do that again, or even whether he _wanted_ to.

When Tyler walked closer to him and took his hand, his resistance melted. He should _not_ want to kiss Tyler, or to be friends with him, or to make his dimples come out, but he did. He did, and he was terrible, both him and Tyler were terrible, but he didn't take his hand away.

In a couple weeks this man- this murderer, this criminal, this human who Josh just wanted to kiss and make happy- would be dead, and Josh would be the man who killed him.

***

They still spent a lot of time with Debby, Jenna, and Mark, and Josh spent quite quite a lot of time with Debby alone, enjoying the company of the one person who knew the truth, but Tyler and Josh spent a lot of time alone too. And Josh liked it. He liked it a lot, and he liked Tyler a lot.

Hurley called him when he was resting on Tyler's shoulder, watching TV because apart from the ping pong table and the village which was too small to have anything more interesting than a library which sold old books and DVDs, it was the only thing to do.

Josh stared at the phone screen, only too aware of the four people in the room with him. "It's my mom," he said, and walked out of the room. He knew that they would be able to hear him from the kitchen, even if it was only faintly, so he made sure to continue the ruse.

"Hey Mom," he greeted.

"Are they in the same room as you?" Hurley asked, immediately understanding. It wasn't the first time he had had to do this.

"No, close though," he said.

"Well, there isn't much I have to say anyway," Hurley said. "I just wanted to check how long you think you'll be. We could do with having you back in a couple weeks."

"I don't know," Josh said.

At this point, he could probably kill Tyler. He could say he wanted to take him on a date, lead him out into the woods with a folding knife concealed in the pocket of his coat, hide it in the palm of his hand and kiss Tyler deeply before literally stabbing him in the back. The others wouldn't hear him scream, and Josh could get out of there as quickly as possible, never to see any of them again. It would be quick, easy, and then he could go home and forget.

He needed longer though, needed a little while to prepare himself to do that. He was attached, and he should never have allowed this to happen, but now he just had to deal with it.

"Okay," Hurley said, slightly disappointed. "I want him dead in three weeks today though. Is that long enough?"

"Yeah," Josh lied. "You too, bye Mom."

Hurley hung up without another word. Goodbyes weren't something he did.

***

It had been over two weeks since Hurley had called him, and he was no closer to killing Tyler. He knew that if he hadn't killed Tyler by the end of the three weeks Hurley had given him- _six days left, only six days to kill his boyfriend_ \- then he would be taken off the case and fired, and these friends he had made would know, know he had lied to them and he would be back to having nothing.

They were murderers and drug dealers and pimps, but Josh couldn't help but think they weren't like that. Maybe it was Stockholm syndrome. Maybe this was his coping mechanism, when he was so close to these people who he should really think of as Bad People, but he couldn't be sure. They laughed and messed around and acted like any other twenty-something-year-olds Josh had met. It wasn't like they went out and shot any stranger on the street, they were only killing those who were going to get them arrested or maybe even _killed_.

It was self-defense, and as for the drugs and pimping... Well, the drugs weren't too bad, people took them willingly. The prostitutes he still found disturbing, but he didn't think about them much.

Six days. This would be over in six days, either because Josh killed them, they killed him, or he got taken off the case. He was going to make the most of these days, because whether or not they did questionable things, these were the only friends he had, and a part of him he would rather ignore threw words at him to describe his feelings for them, incredibly strong words which he wished were less accurate.

"I want to take you somewhere," Josh whispered to Tyler.

"Where?" he asked. They were lying on Tyler's bed, arms wrapped around each other. They were looking straight into the others eyes, in an almost overly romantic way. It was nice though, something Josh had never done, and he doubted Tyler had either. It was comfortable, warm, safe.

"To see the stars." He loved the stars. They looked so still and peaceful, whilst in reality they were all hurtling through space, burning or dying or already dead.

Tyler nodded, and they got out of the cosy bed to put on clothes which would do little against the cold night air.

They walked for about ten minutes before they found a suitable clearing, where the trees weren't dense enough to block out the sky. It was autumn, and dead leaves covered most of the ground, but they lay on their backs anyway, uncaring of the branches and bracken which would probably catch in Josh's hair.

It was clichéd, Josh pointing at the stars and trying to name the constellations. Really, he only knew two- he didn't research them or anything, he just liked stars- but Tyler tried to come up with his own, and poked fun at how the constellations looked nothing like the images astronomers claimed they looked like.

When they stopped being able to feel their hands, they returned to the cabin. They were cold and tired, so it only made sense that they both slept in Josh's room. It was closer to the door, and they'd stay warmer that way.

And if they exchanged 'I love you's, then that was probably Josh's imagination, or maybe they were just both half-asleep at that point. There was no reason for Josh to think about it, or the way he had never felt happier than when he was with Tyler.

***

Two days. Not nearly long enough. Every time he saw any of them, he had to force himself not to spill everything. _I'm an agent and I'm going to kill Tyler, maybe the rest of you too. I've been lying to you all._

Debby knew, though. The day before, she had taken Josh away from the rest of them, allegedly to hang out, and whilst they did end up doing that, it was mainly to warn him not to tell. If he told them, he would be dead, no matter what there was between him and Tyler, and so would Debby.

He restrained, and felt sick because of it.

***

The gun was hidden poorly in the back of Josh's jeans. It didn't matter, though. This was going to be quick, and he would be able to leave and go back to the miserable, friendless existence he had lived before meeting Tyler.

The others were all out of the house, having decided to give them a day to themselves- Mark and Jenna had winked and joked around, while Debby had given him a sad smile. She knew it was going to be today.

Tyler was in the sitting room, and the gun was in Josh's hand now. It had been months since he had touched it, but this was something he had done so many times that he didn't think he could ever forget how to hold it, the exact weight and feel of his pistol in his hand.

He walked quietly behind Tyler, and he could see the moment when his shoulders stiffened, aware of Josh and how unusual it was for him to creep around the cabin.

"Josh," he said, not turning around. "What are you doing?"

His hand shook. "I'm sorry."

Tyler stood, and turned around to face him. The look he gave the gun was not one filled with fear or confusion, only a cold glare. Betrayal. Josh had been lying to him, and he knew it now.

In a swift movement, Tyler pulled his own gun from where it had been concealed in his jacket. Josh had expected him to carry a gun, of course, and by this point, he could have easily shot Tyler. He didn't, though, continued to just stand, finger on the trigger.

"Put it down, Josh. I could kill you now," Tyler said, emotionless.

"I'm so sorry, I love you, I don't want to do this," Josh whispered. This was the last day. He had to. He had to do this.

Tyler's mouth pressed thin. It made sense he thought Josh would be lying about this too.

Josh couldn't do this. He dropped the gun, listened to it clatter noisily to the floor, and then the next thing he knew, his ears were ringing with the sound of a bang.

**Author's Note:**

> inconclusive endings wow!!!1!!! did tyler shoot him? did it turn out someone else was there and shot one of them? did the gun discharge and shoot joshs foot? who knows! (me. i know.)
> 
> anyway [prompts](http://iktwabrokenbone.tumblr.com/ask) r always open but kinda slow atm


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